Questions remained. Lilo's brain continued to brew out potential answers but an abrupt gentle whisper in his ear disrupted his train of thought.
"You smell." Her soft lips brushed against Lilo's ear and a shiver went down his spine.
'Ayo.'
Lilo's wide eyes were met with the beautiful emerald eyes of Miss Peppermint. She wore a sweet smile that could make a thousand men bend to their knees and with a wistful wink she left the table.
Lilo blinked a few times, completely smitten at what just happened; but the rest of the cohort nonchalantly disembarked, leaving Lilo alone to ponder what she said.
He lifted the inner collar of his shirt and took a whiff.
'Gauwk! Tuwa... Mmm. Yes.'
Indeed. He smelt like shit.
"There's an onsen mate. No need to worry." Jawbi yelled over his shoulder, he was nearly exiting the large mess hall; but felt the need to announce Lilo's predicament to the entire student body.
Heat flushed Lilo's cheeks from embarrassment as murmurs swept the crowd of dining herders. When was the last time he washed himself? Yuck, it was gross to acknowledge that it was nearly a week.
***
Lilo left his dorm room with a basket full of his bathing necessities. A fresh set of clothes, a towel, a robe, soap... all of these provided by Mello, his trusty helpful handler.
Mello wasn't the happiest to be disturbed, but with Lilo's polite plea he obliged to show him the way.
"It's up by the temples of our spire, very close to where the Fien's live. There's a big sign that tells you where to go, you can't miss it." Mello leaned in close with a stern expression before emphasizing his next point. "DON'T GO PAST THE ONSEN'S. If the Fien's see you prowling about, they'll likely kill you."
With that chilling statement, Lilo grabbed his things and set out to wash the grime off of himself.
'It's just some grumpy leader who believe in goofy ahh tales. Weren't the Fien's playing silly music when we entered to ward off demons? Psh. Senile elders don't scare me.'
"They may be into some silly goofy things, but they're powerful none the less." Soda warned inside Lilo's head.
'Your spire was ruled by your father, a king, what do you know about Fiens?'
"Enough. Remember that night that your guts spilled out and you splattered onto the floor of the sentient gluttons dwelling place?" Soda's reminder was a chilling one, even for Lilo who had his fair share of traumatic past to pull experiences from.
"Don't forget how you begged for your life to end. You might be immortal with your craver healings but there's a limit to everything; and you're not far from getting shit on by those Fiens. Trust me." Soda's warning was not of arrogant judgement, and Lilo knew he was simply looking out for him.
He nodded begrudgingly and continued walking towards his destination.
A cold breeze cooled his sweat from his long day at the herders institute. The cloud floors felt heavenly under his tired feat and the mage lanterns that lit the streets of the citadel made for a cozy atmosphere.
Back on earth, the streets of any major city was always crawling with trouble, especially at night... Lilo even met his end within an alleyway, so the streets weren't his favorite place to be.
But these streets had a serene sense to them that made Lilo feel.... at peace.
'Ah well, maybe there is a reason for the naming of the spire's after all.'
The food vendors were closing up their shops, giving furtive glances to the lone herder carrying bathing utensils down the nearly empty streets.
Lilo observed the citadel with more attention this time, having only been able to see it in passing or briefly in the past.
In a night setting, it was much easier to notice the elevation of the spire under the stars. The moons lit up the peak of the mountain where the tip of the spire spiraled and halted.
It was all made from the same sky blue limestone, polished like marble and etched with engravings of spectacular ancient heroes telling a mystical captivating story that Lilo never understood the meanings of.
The mountain itself that the spire rested on was not steep causing most of the entire place to be in view due to it being on a gradual slope; allowing Lilo to be able to see below the wall and up all the way to the spiraling spire at the heart of the citadel.
It was a modest size, inhabiting roughly ten thousand citizens, including the cravers. Extremely small compared to what Lilo was used to on earth. It was akin to a small town on a mountain side.
Most buildings were not more than a few stories tall, each marked with the emblems of the separating classes.
Lilo's own emblem, was etched into each of his clothing provided to him. It was that of a ram, belonging to those that were identified as herders.
A side profile of a sheep with curling horns protruding from the crown of its forehead, and stopping at the neck was carefully embroidered into every element he owned.
Most of what he wore was that of a grey color. Sticking true to the monochromatic color scheme of people of the higher class.
Lilo studied each of the emblems on the abodes to identify which one belonged to whom.
There was one of a donkey head, placed on a neon yellow flag. Based on the color, as well as the Wipers who entered those buildings, Lilo assumed that was their emblem.
Slowly, it wasn't that difficult for Lilo to figure out which belonged to which, based on who entered and exited each building with the flag draped over its entrance.
An emblem of a mouse on a light pink flag belonged to the Handlers.
There was an emblem of a goat with long narrow pointed horns that rested on a jet black flag. That was the shepherds, no doubt; Lilo didn't even have to check the inhabitants he just knew.
There was an odd differentiating factor that Lilo noticed. None of these emblems that he had just identified were of the upper floors. They were all ground floor doors that were marked this way.
All of the upper floors that had roofs that were exposed to the sky... had the emblems of the Kite Riders draped over them.
It was a golden owl, embroidered into a pure white silky flag. It was magnificent and majestically dignified from the rest of the flags.
Something was off though. There were still two flags he was unable to find. The Fiens, and the Cravers.
'Do they not live where I can see them?'
Soda appeared in his ghostly form and shook his head, pointing to the gate.
Lilo's gaze landed on a cove of caves, dimly lit by campfires near the entrance of the gates. Each entrance to the caves had patchy strips of glutton leather hanging over them; like long curtains that encompassed at least two stories of height and equidistant in length.
Lilo had to squint to make out the emblem because it was so far away but his jaw dropped open as he witnessed what was etched onto the gluttons leather used as flags.
On the grotesque patched flesh of the monstrous gluttons was a disturbing image of a harrowing creature.
It had a long lanky frame, crouched on its all fours, with its ribs protruding, curled snout snarling, crooked teeth baring, vicus saliva dripping, and a deadly consuming glare in the eyes of the terrifying beast.
The emblem of the cravers was that of a starving wolf, etched onto the flesh of gluttons that acted as their flag.